The Star of Benevolence
by FallaciousTiger
Summary: Kenshiro suffers another loss, this time Shuuh of Nanto Seiken. Novelized from the manga/anime Fist of the North Star/Hokuto no Ken, not an original creation. Just a bit of writing practice. oneshot.


Souther's wicked smile was evident as he watched the blind warrior, Shuuh, climb to the top of the monument he had built, holding aloft the giant stone tip that would make it complete.

"Hahaha... By your hand, this Holy Cross pyramid will be complete... and it shall shine like none other." Raising his eyes upwards to the bloody, beaten form of Shuuh, who continued to struggle upwards, he laughed. "Climb the stairway of death! Climb, or I will have no mercy on those children! Hahahahaha! HAHAHAHA!"

Shuuh had one step left to go, and found his legs, which had been slashed open, unable to move. Silently, he begged for Kenshiro to come. For the sake of all the villagers, he had to. Not a moment later, Shuuh felt the presence of the successor to Hokuto Shinken. He turned his unseeing eyes to the crowd, "KENSHIRO IS COMING!"

And come he did.

"I've been waiting for you, Kenshiro, the inheritor to Hokuto Shinken," Souther said in a booming voice. Kenshiro, however, had eyes only for Shuuh. The man of Nanto Roku Seiken who had given everything. "Shuuh... I'm coming!"

"I can't allow that!" Souther's voice stopped Kenshiro, who turned to look at the Holy Emperor. "Then, I'll kill you first," Kenshiro's voice, while not as booming or bold-sounding as Souther's, radiated with a sense of deadliness only few could achieve. "Big words," Souther retorted, "Coming from a small man."

"Don't!" Shuuh rasped. Kenshiro was again stopped. "Don't come up here...! I have to set this stone myself. This stone represents the life of every hostage... and it would pain me greatly to be the cause of the collapse of the Nanto Roku Seiken."

He took his final step. Holding the tip aloft, every bit of his body trembling, he heard the metal clanks of two shackles as two of Souther's men trapped him there.

"...Souther... you want me to die here, with this stone, don't you?"

"That's right."

"So be it... but it is not for you. I do it for the Six Southern stars, and for those who have died! I dedicate my life to them. However, this pyramid will be destroyed... by the successor to Hokuto Shinken! That is the fate of the Southern Stars... NO SOUTHERN STAR WILL EVER BE A STAR OF HEAVEN!"

These words enraged Souther. "SHUT UP!" He roared as several bolts fired by his men found their way to Shuuh. Kenshiro's heart sunk into his stomach and panic wracked his body.

"SHUUUUUUUUH!" He ran up the stairs as fast as he could, but he was not fast enough... for at that moment, a spear thrown by the Holy Emperor planted itself in Shuuh's breast. He shuddered violently, groaning in agony, but did not drop the stone.

Even as the unbearable pain assaulted his body,something changed. The blackness that Shuuh had so grown accustomed to seemed to be fading. There was light... and a shape. That shape turned into Kenshiro's grief-stricken face. "I... can see."

Kenshiro raised one trembling hand. "Shuuh... can you really see...?" Tears streamed from Shuuh's eyes, down his scarred cheeks.

"God has finally made my dream come true. You have grown so much, Kenshiro... I can even see my son, Shiba, in you. ...I have no regrets. Being under the Star of Benevolence wasn't a mistake..."

"Shuuh..."

"Go, Kenshiro... I'll always be watching you. Shiba is waiting for me... as is my wife. So long... Kenshiro..."

And the stone fell, even as Kenshiro stretched out his hand. Shuuh was gone. The wails and sobs of the many villagers were faint to Kenshiro's ears. He fell to his knees, grasping the stone that had been Shuuh's final act. Tears streamed from his eyes and he screamed out, "SHUUUUUUH!" Trembling with agony and grief, he stood. "Live inside me, Shuuh... the Star of Benevolence."

He turned and looked down upon the Holy Emperor, the thunder in the sky roaring its approval at his fury. "SOUTHERRRRRR! WHEN I AM FINISHED WITH YOU... THERE WILL BE NOTHING LEFT!" 


End file.
